A Hidden Life

I just recently watch A Hidden Life, a 2019 film by Terrence Malick, The film depicts the life of , an Austrian farmer and devout Catholic who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II.

I was really impress with this movie and just love the cinematography that Malick implemented. I really like August Diehl as Franz Jagerstatter, who portrays him as a man who is being tested on his Loyalties and whether or not he should serve the Nazis. Diehl portrays him as a person being true to higher moral principles and obligations of goodness, regardless of those who think differently.

Also, as I said on another post, I think this movie is a comeback for Terrence Malick after making his last 3 movies being at his most experimental, to the confusion of anyone who see these movies. I think A Hidden Life is Malick coming to his senses and deciding to combined on what he made in the 70s and what he was doing in his experimental phase.

What are your thoughts on A Hidden Life?

Do you think this movie was some sort of comeback for Terrence Malick?

I'm only 4 films into Terrence Malick and my favourite so far is The Tree of Life. However, visually, I found A Hidden Life to be much superior. I'm so mad about the place that it's already on my bucket list. Not since the LOTR trilogy have I seen such haunting visuals. Of course, the story is also amazing and that guy is a real inspiration. I also loved James Newton Howard's score for it, complemented the heavenly feeling throughout!

Can't wait to travel to Seis Am Schlern and relive the film!

I've watched Malick's movie just after watching Shame from Bergman, and the first few scenes focusing on a secluded couple, in conjunction with its title led me to believe that Malick would be in some way following the same formula; that was proven to work very well, might I add.

There are blatant differences that can be seen from afar, especially the run time; Malick's piece runs at approximately 3 hours long; we are looking, then, or at a highly developed novella or an epic. The movie is in script and imagery closer to A Tree of Life than Shame; also doubles down on the naturalistic views of life. So, what is this couple's role in the movie? Incredibly, the main characters are just ornaments, completely adjacent to the movie.

As Bergman uses them and his point is to comment on them, here Malick uses them to comment on something else. This else is metaphysics, specifically Christianity's concept of it; it's a transcendental movie. But not Catholicism proper, it's a traditional ancient view of it that accompanies this secluded, green village.

This transcendental view then approximates closely Christian mysticism in the commentary. This is the whole idea of the movie, and the setup is nature (which is shown in incredible footage), pacific, tranquil, his happy inhabitants (our couple, its neighbors), and the war. War is where resolve is tested.

Should one do a deed that benefits no one? Should one choose sacrifice or run with the unavoidable one? Through a myriad of dialogs with priests and soldiers, through letters and shouting matches, these are the questions that Malick attempts to ask. Malick chose to do the impossible.

This movie is not recommended to everyone, it takes a special interest in these topics to appreciate it. Watching this movie because "it's beautiful" is a complete waste and self-indulgent. But it is incredibly urgent.

Why is it urgent? Because of these questions, of what is sacrifice, and if it should be done (the movie alludes to saintly, holiness without needing to explicitly refer to it) is paradoxical with modern society. In modern society, utility and want are the mainstream conceptions of motivation; actions that violate these are seen as inherently transgressional. They are actively fought against and discouraged.

And what forms could sacrifice take? Political sacrifice? Ethical sacrifice? The movie leaves this question open, but in its 3-hour-long time takes plenty of pot shots at institutions and offers us just enough historical tidbits.

So, are you willing to sacrifice and watch this movie? I was glad I did.

Wow, i watched this on Wednesday and I cannot stop thinking about how beautiful this film is. Some of the shots captured in this film are incredible and I have to say I didn’t think Malick could reach these highs again in the later stages of his career.

What he does here is marry a more traditional style of storytelling with his now signature style of dreamlike beauty. And the results are tremendous. There is a shot near the end of this film of our main character riding a motorcycle in the sunshine whilst flashing forward to reveal his fate and it is one of the most powerful shots I have seen.

I would rank this film as one of his best, up there with Badlands, Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line. I adore The Tree Of Life but also realise it was the start of a more experimental approach from him.

Anyway I was just curious to hear other peoples thoughts on this film.

Here in /TrueFilm there was a recent discussion about Terrence Malick's The New World. That inspired me to type a few words about Malick's latest film A Hidden Life (2019).

A Hidden Life tells the story of an Austrian farmer and conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter, who refused to take the oath of serving in Hitler's army during the WWII. Because of that he was arrested by the Nazis and captured in prison. Jägerstätter repeatedly refused to take arms and eventually was sentenced to death. He was executed in 9 August 1943. He left behind a wife and four daughters, including one from a previous relationship. In 2007 Catholic Church beatified him and declared him a martyr.

First, I would like to say that I respect everyone's views and status on religion and what follows is my own personal and subjective analysis of this film.

For me it is really obvious that Malick's films are usually deeply influenced by theology and Christian symbolism. I find it a bit surprising that many film critics don't bring this up when discussing his films. A Hidden Life is one of the most obvious examples of this. It tells the story of a Christian martyr and what it literally means to give one's life to serve God. During the film Jägerstätter (played by August Diehl) is repeatedly humiliated and questioned by many people because of his decision, including fellow town citizens and clergy members of the church. Why are you doing this? What is the point of your actions? Nobody sees what you're doing!

In some sense there are no reasonable answers to those questions. Paraphrasing St. Paul, the wisdom of God is often foolishness in the eyes of this world. World, which is about power and control. The film is a symbolic journey to the heart of Christianity, which means to suffer voluntarily.

In one of the film's key monologues a painter in the church contemplates how we are a culture of admirers but not followers of God. He yearns to paint the real Christ instead of the image of him that people usually want to see. Men have forgotten what evil looks like, or we just want to close our eyes and ignore it. And you can't blame them. It takes a lot from an individual to stand for their values when facing the herd mentality, that eventually is the power behind the rise of ideological regimes.

In the center of Christianity is the call to pick up one's cross, and that's what Hidden Life is basically all about. It is about trying to be loyal to beauty and love in the middle of raging evil and totalitarian terror. It is one of the finest metaphors of Christian life that I have seen in contemporary art for a while.

Malick's previous films To The Wonder, Knight of Cups and Song to Song are modern stories that catch glimpses of doomed relationships and attempts to escape pain and alienation into meaningless sex and fame. Cinematically they are quite different from A Hidden Life, but I can't help seeing a religious undertone in all of them. The previous "trilogy" is about repenting the lifestyle of sin and that Christian narration in some sense concludes in A Hidden Life.

I think it's one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. The emotional impact of it is stunning, something very few other films can reach. It is a deeply religious and Christian film but not in a preachy or moralising manner. A transcendental work of art.